Western Carolina University
B.S. in Computer Science
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
College of Arts and Sciences
Annual Assessment Report for 2007-2008
Primary Contact Name/Info:
Dr. Mark Holliday, Interim Head
Mathematics & Computer Science
Stillwell 426A
227-3951
Student Learning
Outcome(s) Assessed in
2007-08
State the learning outcome(s) that
the program assessed in the 200708 assessment cycle.
Method(s) of
Assessment
Provide a summary of the
methods used to assess the
chosen outcome. Note any
changes in the assessment
measures from the program’s
official assessment plan.
Results of
Assessment
Results must include a
summary of major findings,
interpretation of the results,
and a description of how the
results were disseminated to
key stakeholders for
discussion.
Implementation Plan
Identify what programmatic/curricular
changes or improvements you will
make as a result of the assessment.
Each recommended action must be
specific and relate directly to the
outcome and results of assessment. A
description of the timeline for action
and the person(s) responsible must be
included. In addition, please include a
brief description of resources that will
be critical to implementation of the
actions proposed, if applicable.
3. Students completing the
B.S. degree in Computer
Science will, when given an
observed behavior of a
single computer or of a
distributed system, be able
to identify and explain the
key internal events that
cause that behavior.
1. Direct Method.
Course Portfolio in
CS 350 (Computer
Organization).
2. Direct Method.
Capstone Portfolio in
CS 495 (Capstone).
3. Direct Method.
Capstone Project.
Students appeared to
not have a sufficiently
strong understanding
of the information
security aspects of the
behavior of a single
computer or of a
distributed system.
This was found by
reading of the
reflection documents in
their student portfolios
and the nature of their
capstone projects.
These findings were
disseminated to all the
tenure-track computer
science faculty and
discussed.
The recommended action is
to start offering CS 430
(Information Security I) with
the first offering being during
the Fall 2008 semester. This
is a new course that will be
taught by Andrew Dalton.
Andrew is a new tenure-track
computer science faculty
member starting in the Fall
2008 semester.
The lab for CS 430 involves
hands-on experiments with a
computer network isolated
from the campus network.
The computers for the new
network were already in the
department. The networking
equipment was purchased
during the Spring 2008
semester.